School Holidays 2017 Cottages In Aberdeenshire

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Julia - Verified booking

  At the time of writing I can confirm and dispute some of the previous reviews.

  I had mixed feelings about what to expect after reading the photos are inaccurate, the property is tired, the place needs a deep clean, a cupboard door is missing in the kitchen, there are no cleaning things, pegs to hang laundry, oven gloves, the lights trip out, the internet doesn’t work etc etc. I literally turned up prepared with a bag full of stuff and relatively low expectations. I could have saved myself the trouble because clearly the owners had listened to a lot of the feedback. Logs were stacked by the door with matches and fire lighters provided, there was a vacuum cleaner, dish washing capsules, soap capsules for the washing machine, pegs to hang clothes, fairy liquid in the kitchen along with a dish cloth, sponge, tea towel, oven mitts, kitchen towel and a fully equipped kitchen, no kitchen door missing. There was an ironing board, iron and travel hairdryer in the bedroom and hand soap, toilet paper in the bathroom. The place was easy to find and proved to be a great base for exploring the Moray coastline or venturing a bit further for a day out in Aberdeen/ Peterhead/Elgin. Shopping for supplies at the local Tesco’s ( open until 11pm every day day except Sunday when it closes at 8pm) was super easy and only a short drive away. I booked at very short notice and the owner Jamie was very accommodating in allowing me to have 2 larger dogs at the property (for a small additional fee) when one is the usual policy. Arriving at the property I see why it doesn’t make a good impression. The first thing I saw looking for the key was an ugly green curtain hanging on a string at the front door and walking immediately into the Orangery it has to be said it’s not the same as the advertising photos. However there’s this wonderful warm feeling that immediately envelops you and you instantly know you’re going to love spending time in this place. The cottage in my opinion was clean where it needed to be. The kitchen was spotless as was the bathroom, bedroom. It’s easy to forget that these properties are rented back to back with only a few hours in between to prepare. If the skirting /floor boards are dusty, there’s a stain on the wall,the odd cobweb, leaves floating around I’m certainly not going to loose any sleep or let it effect my stay. The one issue we did have was we struggled at times with the internet ( to be expected considering the location) it could be very slow and we found it did work better in some places than others. We also noticed neither of our mobiles had network coverage in the cottage. Overall I can say we had a wonderful week staying here. It ticked so many boxes I could happily have stayed longer and if I was to return to the area I wouldn’t hesitate to stay again. Jamie and his Mum are the best kind of hosts. They are there when needed but otherwise respect you’re on holiday and leave you to it

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• Nuala - Verified booking

  The property is charming.

  Very French in style. Solid wood doors and thick walls. We didn't get to meet the owner Jamie but a quick call to him regarding logs and bedroom curtains was soon solved. Logs delivered so we could light the wood burner in the orangery and new bedroom curtains installed which changed the whole room from looking unkempt to plush. There was no armchair in the lounge and the settee was quite small. We brought one of the chairs in from the orangery which helped but neither were very comfortable. The bed was huge and so comfortable I had the best night's sleep ever. We didn't use the hot tub as we had read how long it takes to heat up and the weather was cold and wet but the bath in the bathroom was huge and lots of hot water. We would have liked more cleaning equipment a soft brush to sweep the orangery as grapes and leaves kept falling down. There was a large outside sweeping brush but it was too course for inside. There was no vacuum cleaner. Our dog doesn't she'd but I can imagine if you had a dog that did you would not be able to clean the hairs up. Overall we got to love the cottage and in better weather would love to visit again. The scenery and night sky was amazing. It is a bit remote but that gave it it's charm.

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• Melanie - Verified booking

  We had a lovely stay and were very lucky with the weather so we weren’t in the property all day.

  Few things to note for improvements: 1. Missing kitchen cupboard door was unsightly 2. Cob webs throughout the property and poor cleaning- plaster wrapper was in the living room when we arrived 3. Lack of utensils for self catering- I.e pepper, oven mitts (we bought and left a salt and pepper grinder and sea salt) 4. No clothes pegs so couldn’t hang washing outside 5. The dishwasher leaked and had a puddle every morning in the kitchen floor, we never used the dishwasher once because of this but it was still happening 6. No cleaning products or instructions for the hot tub, if we had this we would have used it more as it got a bit dirty after each use 7. Only seating outside was 2 fairly rickety upright chairs, if there were lounge chairs it would be better as it was lovely weather when we stayed 8. Bathroom could use a good deep clean- grout in tiles was very dirty 9. We had a power cut when we were there and the instructions must have been for the fuse box in the main part of the house and not the Orangery, if this could be updated that would be a big help. Luckily power came back when we were looking for a solution but we didn’t have phone signal to call for assistance when the power went out

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• Diane - Verified booking

  Dolphin Cottage is lovely, well placed, immaculately clean.

  Everything you need is there for you to enjoy your stay. We didnt find we were missing anything we needed. The owners had left things we didnt expect to find, especially with the toiletries. They left us milk and tea and coffee facilities for our arrival, also a starter pack for the log fire. We arrived to a power cut and they were able to advise us on when the power might be restored. They left a folder of hints and tips and all the manuals needed for the appliances. They deserve to be popular with guests. Lovely cottage and fab hosts. It took us 9 hours to get to Banff but we would happily book again. The cottage is dog friendly and they provide throws for the furniture. We will recommend them to anyone we know who might want to travel to that area. One tip if you are hoping to see the northern lights, ask the locals for advice on your first night. We found out that the lights had appeared on at least 3 nights of our stay but despite looking out of the windows we didnt see them, maybe we should have looked out of the back door not the front as we saw more stars in the sky at the back. All in all a lovely week in Banff and the surrounding area with a lovely cottage to go home to each evening

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• Jane - Verified booking

  We visited The Orangery as part of our honeymoon celebrations.

  We had read lots of the reviews and were looking forward to our stay. What can I say - wow. The photos don't do the property justice. It was quirky and rustic and a wonderful place to stay with all facilities you could need. We enjoyed the hot tub - the hubby sorted that out and whilst it did take time to warm up, once ready, it was lovely. We enjoyed time playing board games in the orangery part of the property and it was a great place to get our washing dried - we made a make-shift washing line and clothes were dry within the day. Jamie, the owner, was really friendly and helpful. Came to check we were managing okay and his son took a shine to our dog, Lucy. We ordered an Asda grocery delivery for the day of arrival and this turned up no problem. We also ordered a couple of board games from Amazon and these were delivered. There is a small Tesco supermarket in Turriff where we picked up extra bits of shopping. Whilst staying here we visited Delgatie Castle, Gardenstown, Bullers of Buchan and Aden Country Park. All lovely places for walking with our dog. Would love to visit again some time in the future. Absolutely loved it.

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